Method of knitting patterned fabric



Nov. 3, 1959 N. LEVIN METHOD OF KNITTING PATTERNED FABRIC Filed July 18, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

F1. E- J.

IN VEN TOR. NA THAN L EV/N' ,4 770/?NE Y Nov. 3, 1959 N. LEVIN METHOD OF KNITTING PATTERNED FABRICv 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 18, 1956 FEED N94 m M m M ATTORNEY N. LEVIN METHOD OF KNITTING PATTERNED FABRIC Nov. 3, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 18, 1956 I!!! 9 I.\ \W Y=E%%IP kk z INVENTOR. A A THAN LEW/V MQZM ATTORNEY.

United States Patfl j The present invention relates generally to the art of knitting'and more particularly to weft knit fabric composed of suture joined areas or portions of fabric having an overplaid design incorporated therein and to the method of making the same.

' In an application Serial No. 584,932, filed May 15, 1956, of which the present application is a continuationin-part, a method of knitting an overplaid design in suture joined areas of a tubular fabric is disclosed, the method generally providing for the operation of a four feed circular knitting machine in such manner that an opposite pair of feeds (also known as knitting stations) forms a corresponding first pair of fabric areas oppositely disposed in the tubular fabric while'the interven ing pair of feeds incorporates the overplaid design within the said first pair of fabric areas during the knitting thereof, and then reversing the action of each of the pairs of feeds for the formation of a second pair of overplaid-ornamented oppositely disposed fabric areas, the fabric areasof said first and second pairs and of other similar pairs thereof being arranged in alternation to form said tubular fabric.

In the above method, a pair of overplaid yarns is indi vidually associated with each of the feeds with the result that the overall overplaid design in the'tubular fabric is made up of a series of eight individual yarns, portions of which float walewise within tween certain of the fabric areas.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a tubular weft knit fabric, which may comprise the leg portion of a stocking, having a plural section pattern composed of a-plurality of suture joined areas of fabric ornamented withan overplaid design in which the design may be formed of atleast four individualoverplaid yarns for each pattern section, and to provide a method of knitting the same.

the tubular fabric be It is also the object of the-present invention to provide 7 a tubular weft knit fabric having a four'section pattern composed of a plurality of suture joined areas of fabric ornamented with an overplaid design in which the design may be iformed of'at least sixteen individual yarns for saidpat'tern sectionsfwhereby, within each fabric area, the overplaid yarns may 'be changed to provide a design of crossed lines' of contrasting colors, or contrasting colors within single lines of the design, and to provide a method of knitting the same.

It is a further object of the presentinvention to provide a method of operation for a four feed circular knitting machine by reciprocation thereof, to knit an overplaid design in suture joined areas of tubular fabric, wherein an opposite pair of 'feeds forms a corresponding first pair of oppositely disposed fabric areas while at each of the intervening pair of feeds one or more pairs of yarns selected from:at least four overplaid yarns is employed in incorporating the design withinthe said first pair of fabric areas during the knittingthereof, and then reversing the action-of eachcf the pairs-of feeds for the formation of a second pair of oppositely disposed over- 2,910,849 7 Patented Nov. 3, 1959 plaid ornamented fabric areas, these method steps be ing repeated to form other pairs of fabric areas, the fabric areas of the first and second pairs and of said other pairs thereof being arranged in alternation to form said tubular fabric.

With these and other objects in View which will become apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings, the invention resides in the novel features of the present method of knitting and in the product resulting therefrom, as hereinafter more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of one side of a solid color stocking of the Argyletype having an overplaid design of the present invention incorporated therein;

Fig. 2 is a partial view of the opposite side of the stocking shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating a step in the method of knitting, of the present invention, upon a. four feed circular knitting machine, the needle circle being indicated by a dot and dash line;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating another step in the present method of knitting; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the stitch layout of a modified form of the overplaid design.

The overplaid design is preferably incorporated in circular knit hosiery and is preferably made upon a multifeed machine of the type disclosed in the application of Benjamin Franklin Coile, Serial No. 329,801, filed January 6, 1953, to which reference may be made.

In the machine of the Coile application, hosiery of the Argyle or intarsia type having solid color, suture joined, four section patterns may be knit by more than one method. One method includes the formation of a complete course, containing suture joined partial courses of each ofthe four pattern sections, on the four feeds during each stroke of the machine. In a second method, the machine may be operated to knit an opposite pair of partial courses of a first pair of opposite pattern section fabric areas on correspondingly opposite feeds, with the other pair of feeds normally inactive, during each stroke of the machine. In this latter method, known as the fill-in system, the said first pair of opposite fabric areas is completed by their associated pair of feeds, after which the said pair of feeds is made inactive and the previously inactive pair of feeds is made active to knit the inbetween second pair of fabric areas. For example, in the case of diamond shaped areas of an Argyle pattern, the feeds Nos. 1 and 3 may knit an opposite pair of diamonds in an opposite pair of pattern sections with. feeds Nos. 2 and 4 inactive, after which the feeds Nos. 2 and 4 may be activated to knit and fill-in an inbetween pair of diamonds in the intervening pair of pattern sections with feeds Nos. 1 and 3 inactive, and then these steps may be repeated; It will be understood that the contiguous diamonds are suture joined along their outlines as the held loops thereof on needles progressively retired during the knitting of any one pair of diamonds are knitted when the retired needles are progressively made active during knitting of the other pair of diamonds. The fill-in system is not limited to the formation of diamond shaped areas but may be used for solid color areas of other configuration. It is with the fill-in system of solid color knitting that my application Serial No. 584,932 and the present application are related, in connection With theincorporation of an overplaid design.

diamond shaped Argyle design of which there are the upper opposite pair of side half diamonds 13 and 14;

the intermediate opposite pair of side diamonds 15 and 16; the lower opposite pair of side half diamonds 17 and 18; the front and rear upper pair of diamonds 19 and 28; and the front and rear lower pair of diamonds 21 and 22. The various diamonds are joined along diagonally extending suture lines indicated at 23; The diamonds themselves, each of a solid color, are ornamented with an overplaid design comprising relatively narrow lines of stitches of contrastingly colored yarns, the overplaid design generally dividing each diamond into a group of four smaller diamonds. The diamond areas 13, 15 and 17 and the diamond areas 14, 16 and 18, are formed in an opposite pair of pattern sections while the diamond areas 19 and 21 and the diamond areas 20 and 22 are formed in the intervening pair of pattern sections. It Will be noted that there is a number of wales common to adjacent pattern sections.

The diamond shaped areas of the stocking shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are provided with an overplaid design knit of sixteen overplaid yarns a through p, of which four thereof are individual to each pattern section of the four section pattern, one pattern section including the half diamonds 13 and 17 and the diamond 15 with which the yarns a, b, c, and d are associated, a second pattern section including the diamonds 19 and 21 with which the yarns i, j, k, and l are associated, a third pattern section including the half diamonds 14 and 18 and the diamond 16 with which the yarns e, f, g, and h are associated, and a fourth pattern section including the diamonds 20 and 22 with which the yarns m, n, 0, and p are associated. The overplaid yarns a through p are knitted in certain courses and wales to form portions of the lines of the overplaid design which, appears on the face of the fabric, While in the intervening courses they float rearwardly of the fabricand are indicated by dotted lines, the beginning and terminal ends of each of the yarns also being indicated by dotted lines- In the first named pattern section either of the yarns b or d may pair up with either of the yarns a and c, in each of the side half diamonds 13 and 17, and in addition thereto the same type of selective pairing arrangements may be made for the upper and for the lower half portions of the diamond 15, depending upon the particular color design Wanted in each of the diamonds. For 1 Similar pairing selections may be made Within the half diamond areas, however, since the overplaid lines do not cross therein, the selective pairing may result in differently colored lines of stitches in the half diamonds of each pattern section'containing the same, for example, the half diamond 14 has the lines of stitches of yarns e and Whereas thehalf diamond 18 has the lines of stitches of yarns g and h. It is not essential that the pairings of the yarns always be made so as to provide contrastingly colored crossed lines of the overplaid design, in a diamond area, since other pairing of the yarns will produce other combinations of colors withinthe diamonds, the pairingsdepending upon the particular color arrange. ments chosen for the overplaid design.

The Figs. 1 and 2 show that any two of the yarns which are to be interchanged, do so at the centers of -the'dia-- monds or at the suture lines 23, for example, the yarns a and 0 change at the center of diamond 15 whereyarn c replaces yarn a and at the suture line 23 of half diamond 17 Where yarn a replaces yarn c. For the particularoverplaid design shown, the changes are preferably made at the places just described, however, it will be obvious i Furtherdetaileddescription-of the placing of theotherthat the interchanging between any two yarns, Which results in the various selective pairings of the overplaid yarns, may be made at other places in the overplaid type of design shown and in various places of overplaid designs of other shapes in combination with solid color areas of other configurations.

Generally in the method of knitting set forth in application Serial No. 584,932, the side half diamonds 13 and 14, the side-full diamonds 15 and 16, and the side half diamonds 17 and 18, are knit at feeds Nos. 2 and 4 of suitable body yarns, while the overplaid design is incorporated in these diamonds at the feeds Nos. 1 and 3 by using a pair of overplaid yarns at and individual to each of the latter feeds. The front and rear diamonds 19, 20, 21 and 22 are knit at feeds Nos. 1 and 3 of suitable body yarns, while the overplaid design is incor porated in these diamonds at feeds Nos. 2 and 4 by using another pair of overplaid yarns at and individual to each of the latter feeds. The overplaid yarns float walewise inside. the fabric between the diamonds within which they are incorporated.

According to the method of the present invention, the opposite side half diamonds 13 and 14, the opposite side half diamonds 17 and 18, and the opposite full diamonds 15 and 16, are knit at feeds Nos. 2 and 4, of suitable body yarns 24 and 25, Fig. 3, while at the same time'either of yarns f or h paired with either of yarns d or b at feed No.1 and either of yarns e or g paired with either of yarns a or c at feedNo. 3, are incorporated therein at the latter two feeds, generally after themanner set' forth in application Serial No. 584,932. The front and rear diamonds 19, 20, 21 and 22 are knit at feeds Nos.v 1 and 3, of suitable body yarns 26 and 27, Fig. 4, while at the same time either of the yarns 0 or m paired with'either of the yarns for k at feed No. 4 and either of the yarns i or I paired with'either of the. yarns n or p at feed No. 2, are incorporated therein at .the latter two feeds, also generally after the manner set forth in application Serial No. '5 84,932.

TheFigs. 3 and 4 show two groups of overplaid yarns at each of the four feeds with two yarns in each of the groups, for example, yarns a and cmake up one yarn group at feed No. 3, and, when any opposite pair of feeds is active to feed and incorporate overplaid yarn in the fabric areas then being made at the other two feeds, any pair of yarns from the two groups at each of the said opposite pair of feeds may be selected to form the design. In Fig. 4, by way of example only, it is the near yarns o and k of feed- No. 4 while it is the near yarns p and l at feed No. 2, and in Fig. 3 it is the outer yarns e and a of feed No. 3 while it is the outer yarn f and the inner yarn d at feed No. 1.

In the particular arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the side half diamonds 13 and 17 and the intermediate diamond 15 are provided with knit overplaidyarns a, b, c, d ofwhich yarns a and b start knitting generally at the center ,of the widest course of half diamond 13 and, as. the knitting continues, diverge to, 'meet the mid-points of its suture lines 23 about half way down the diamond 13, then float vertically past the inner side of front and rear diamonds 19 and 20 to the mid-points of the upper suture lines 23 of diamond 15 where they are incorporated along converging lines to the center thereof at which point the yarns are changed, d for b and c for a, and then the knit lines of yarns. d and c diverge to the mid-points, of the lower suture lines 23 of the diamond 15, after which the yarn c is no longer incorporated and yarns, d and a (the yarn a from the center of diamond 15) zfloat to the mid-points of the upper suture lines 23 of the lower half diamond 17 where they are incorporated along converging lines to meet and terminate at about the'centerof the widest course of this half diamond.

overplaid yarns in relation to'the upper and lower portions of the various diamonds in the other pattern sections is believed unnecessary, since it would follow the general description set forth above and is obvious from an inspection of the Figs. 1 and 2.

It has been set forth that the overplaid design yarns may be interchanged in the fabric areas at points other than at the suture lines and at the fabric area centers, and an example of this is illustrated in Fig. 5 where a pair of yarns of one group thereof is interchanged for alternate courses of the overplaid knitting, although it will be understood that the interchange may be made in other arrangements of selected courses. On line of the overplaid design is shown in Fig. 5, and the other lines of the design may be so formed or may be formed as previously described. Assuming that the design line of Fig. 5 is formed at feed No. 3 of the group-pair of yarns a and c in a fabric area knit at feed No. 2 of body yarn 24 (the group-pair of yarns d and b of and at feed No. l forming the other design line, not shown, in this fabric area), the yarn guides for the yarns a and c will be placed alternately in feeding and in non-feeding positions so that the yarns a and will be knit in alternate overplaid knitting strokes. After the courses 28 and 29 have been knit of body yarn 24 at feed No. 2, further knitting at feed No. 3 will form a pair of stitches 30 of yarn c, then after knitting courses 31 and 32 at feed No. 2, further knitting at feed No. 3 Will form a pair of stitches 33 of yarn a (the yarn a having been placed in feeding position to replace the withdrawn yarn c), and in a like manner other courses of the fabric area will be formed. After knitting body courses 34 and 35, the pair of stitches 36 of yarn b will be made and after the body courses 37 and 38, the pair of stitches 39 of yarn a will be knit, and so on. The yarns a and c float rearwardly of the fabric between the courses in which they are incorporated. It will be understood that the present invention is not limited to the particular number of needles selected to knit the overplaid yarns, nor to any specific stitch construction of the overplaid stitches themselves.

The aforementioned Coile application discloses four textile yarn feeding fingers at each of the feeding stations. For the present invention, the number of fingers is increased at each feeding station, in any well known manner, to at least five and preferably to six, so that four of the fingers may be used for the overplaid yarns while the remaining fingers may be used for the body yarns. The yarn control drums are accordingly changed for the increased number of fingers and proper indexing of the drums will move the overplaid fingers at the proper time to provide the interchange of the overplaid yarns at the desired points in the stocking. For the fabric of Fig. the overplaid yarns are interchanged with greater frequency and, for this purpose, a regularly indexed auxiliary yarn drum may be provided in association with the overplaid yarn fingers, the indexing being of the desired frequency and under control of the main cam drums of the machine.

Having thus described my invention in full detail, it will be understood that these details need not be strictly adhered to and that various changes and modifications may be made all falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A method of knitting on a circular knitting machine having a plurality of knitting stations and adapted to reciprocate to knit a tubular fabric at said stations, including the Step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn at each of a pair of said knitting stations to simultaneously form at least a pair of opposed fabric areas, and the step of reciprocatorily knitting first one pair and then a second pair of yarns at each of another pair of said knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said first and second pairs of yarns in said fabric areas during the knitting thereof.

2. A method of knitting 'on a circular knitting machine to reciprocatorily knit a tubular fabric, including the step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn to form a fabric area of said tubular fabric and the step of reciprocatorily knitting first one pair and then a second pair of yarns to form an overplaid design of said first and second pairs of yarns in said fabric area during the knitting thereof.

3. A method of knitting on a circular knitting machine having four knitting'stations and adapted to reciprocate to knit a tubular fabric at said stations, including the step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn at each of a pair of said stations to simultaneously form a pair of opposed fabric areas of said tubular fabric, and the step of re ciprocatorily knitting first one pair and then a second pair of yarns at each of the remaining pair of knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said first and second pairs of yarns in each fabric of said pair of fabric areas during the knitting thereof.

4. A method of knitting on a circular knitting machine having four knitting stations and adapted to reciprocate to knit a tubular fabric at said stations, including the step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn at each of an opposite pair of said stations to simultaneously form a first pair of oppositely disposed fabric areas of said tubular fabric, the step of reciprocatorily knitting a plurality of pairs of yarns at each of the intervening pairs of knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said plurality of pairs of yarns in each fabric of said first pair of fabric areas during the knitting thereof, and the step of changing the operation of the pairs of knitting stations to knit a yarn at each of said intervening pair of stations to form a second pair of oppositely disposed fabric areas arranged in alternation with the first named fabric areas circumferentially of said tubular fabric and to knit a plurality of pairs of yarns at each of said opposite pair of knitting stations to form an overplaid design in each of said last mentioned pair of fabric areas.

5. A method of knitting on a circular knitting machine having four knitting stations and adapted to reciprocate to knit a tubular fabric at said stations, including the step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn at each of an opposite pair of said stations to simultaneously form a first pair of diamond shaped fabric areas oppositely disposed in said tubular fabric, the step of reciprocatorily knitting a first pair of yarns at each of the intervening pairs of knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said first pair of yarns in one portion of each fabric of said first pair of diamond shaped fabric areas during the knitting thereof, the step of reciprocatorily knitting a second pair of yarns at each of the intervening pairs of knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said second pair of yarns in another portion of each fabric of said first pair of diamond shaped areas during the knitting thereof, and the step of changing the operation of the pairs of knitting stations to knit a yarn at each of said intervening pair of stations to form a second pair of oppositely disposed diamond shaped areas arranged in alternation with the first named fabric areas circumferentially of said tubular fabric and to knit a first and a second pair of yarns at each of said opposite pair of knitting stations to form overplaid designs in each of said last mentioned fabric areas.

6. A method of knitting on a circular knitting machine having a plurality of knitting stations and adapted to reciprocate to knit a tubular fabric at said stations, including the step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn at each of a pair of said knitting stations to simultaneously form at least a pair of opposed fabric areas, the step of reciprocatorily knitting a first pair of yarns at each of another pair of said knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said first pair of yarns in one portion of each fabric of said fabric areas during the knitting thereof, and the step of reciprocatorily knitting a second pair of yarns at each of said other pair of said knitting stations to form an overplaid design of said second pair of yarns in another portion of each fabric of said fabric areas during the knitting thereof;

7. A method of knitting on a circular knitting machine to reciprocatorily knit a tubular fabric-,; including the step of reciprocatorily knitting a yarn to form a fabric area of said tubular fabric, the step of reciprocatorily knitting References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS [Lawson et a1. Oct; 8, 1940 Green; Jan. 27, 1953 Thurston a J ne 23, 19 3. Thurston June 15, 1954 Mariette et a1. Nov. 2, 1954 Gell Oct. 21, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb, s, 1958 

